Health’s Week in Pop

HEALTH recently released DISCO3 & just covered New Order’s “Blue Monday” for the upcoming film Atomic Blonde (starring Charlize Theron) & were also ever so kind to present the following exclusive Week in Pop guest selections:

I understand that this is a music magazine and that we are a band, but I’m going to talk about podcasts.

I was a bit of a late comer to the revolution, namely because I’m an inveterately frustrated person who is hateful of new things. Added to that, at first glance there is very little that is conceptually new or exciting about DIY talk radio. There is, however, an endlessly specialization of subjects that can be curated to fit your personal interests. Long gone are the days of wading through NPR segments that bore the shit out of you hoping for something that will tickle your fancy. You have control now. Here’s my current top 3.

Health live at Music Hall of Williamsburg; photographed by Eric Groom.

If you are not already an avid enthusiast of military history, this probably isn’t going help. If you are, it’s like catnip. This podcast is characterized by painstaking, multi source research into all the annals of human conflict. Most episodes are insightful, somewhat meandering, and long as hell, averaging around 3 hours. If you want to dive into the deep end I suggest starting with, Blueprint For Armageddon, a 6 part series on World War I.

Written and narrated by Karina Longworth, topics center on the endlessly tantalizing non-fiction of 20th century Hollywood. For me the most laudable aspect of this series is its duality. Not only do you get to satiate your base appetite for sex, death and human degradation, the diverse episodes are presented with the intellectual bent of genuine film historian. Everyone gets a boner for the suicides and pill addictions of the stars, but wouldn’t it be great if we could also gain a greater comprehension of the diverse socio-political drama that fuels our entertainment industry? Now you can. No better place to start than 12 episodes on The Manson Family.

Live at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Health; photographed by Eric Groom.

Hosted by Jason Prall, this is offering focuses on fitness, longevity, and overall wellness. Yes, I am aware of the humor in this selection based on the fact that I am in a band called HEALTH. Go fuck yourself.